HandicappedPets.Net

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Just arrived, a young dog with both rear legs amputated. Cart is on order. Dog is happy and otherwise pretty healthy.

The dog will be with us for a month or so until his adoptive family can take him in.

This is my first experience with a less than 4 legged dog, so, I'm asking what may be an obvious question: what do I do to enable him to poop? right now he has a drag bag and a diaper. Will the cart allow him to go more normally?

Is he incontinent, or simply missing his hind legs so the issue is positioning?

Carts are designed with a saddle to allow elimination without the dog or cart getting dirty, so he will have more freedom when the cart arrives.

If he is incontinent he will pass stools by himself without assistance when he is lying down, or you can express his bowel manually to help reduce waste in his bed/diaper/drag bag. Here are some tips on expressing the bowel.

It isn't really such an obvious question if the issue is positioning. Since he is new to your house, he does not have a favorite place in the yard where he used to go, so you do not know where he might prefer if you want to take him outside. Some of it will depend on him. Some dogs are relaxed about being pottied on a leash, while others want their space and may not want your help. You could try a belly sling and see if he'll let you walk him to potty, and possibly do a little light exercise to help condition his front legs. A gingerlead may stay on better than a simple sling. Some dogs develop the ability to balance and walk on the front legs, here are examples.

Ah, yes, a spinal cord injury IS another story!! Do you express his poop and pee? If you express, what ain't in can't leak out! Diapers tend to be hard to keep on anyway, and some ideas are kids' Onesies (sometimes you need turtleneck ones), and harnesses, etc.

Or like critters said, a harness. I like the standard nylon chest harness. You can clip the diaper to the harness using elastic straps, such as the ones used to keep sheets on a bed, the ones used to keep an ironing board cover on the ironing board, or the ones used to keep a tablecloth on a picnic table. If he is big, they make longer ones for military men designed to keep socks up by clipping one end to the top of the sock and the other end to the bottom of the shorts. If he is really small, they make small ones designed to keep a pair of kid's mittens from getting separated. What they all have in common is they are an elastic band with clips on both ends. Here is an example, and you can use more than one of course.

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There is another option, sorry if this is long but just my two cents. Since it is a male dog, he does not necessarily have to wear a diaper. They make malewraps (male belly bands) that will stay on, such as the Happy Jack that goes over the shoulders. http://www.bestdogdiapers.com/ It is totally the choice of the foster or adopter how you want to do it, but if it was me I might be inclined to just put him in the belly band and no diaper. Express his bowel for stools maybe twice a day, and feed him a good diet so he has high qualilty stools, well formed, not sticky, low odor. That way if he doodles in the house it will not hurt the flooring, and if he doodles in his bed it won't soil his bed.

I did a video one time demonstrating stool quality. I have had the best luck with Science Diet w/d dry dog kibble for excellent stools that do not mess the rug or smell up the house. I never have to use carpet cleaner, any more than I do for the other dogs. Some people might think, "Oh I could never let my dog just doodle in the house." Well...actually you can. Stool quality is everything. If you watch this video and imagine if these stools fell on your rug, you can see they are not an issue. However with your dog, the diaper may give some protection to his skin if he drags, so it partly depends on him. I have a female dog who is dual incontinent, so she does have to wear a diaper, but it has an ample tail hole so the stools fall out. Good quality stools, not a problem. If the fresh stools in this video leave no mark on the clean potty pad, that is how they will be on the floor as well. They are actually about the consistency of cookie dough and I put a fresh bath towel in her doggie bed every day, and at night she sleeps in a baby play pen which is designed to be easy to clean. I end up washing a load of doggie towels and bedding about every other day, but it makes for a good quality of life and it works for us.

CarolC wrote: I put a fresh bath towel in her doggie bed every day, and at night she sleeps in a baby play pen which is designed to be easy to clean.

I meant to say, she sleeps in the playpen at night without a diaper. This works with incontinent dogs, because if they wet an area the playpen is big enough that they just move to a clean spot. I like her to sleep without a diaper at night because it lets her skin breathe, and it seems like it would be more comfortable, and also she is a good little groomer and it gives her the chance to groom at night. Since her diaper has a tail hole for the stools to drop out, I don't have to bather her. In the morning I express her and put on a fresh diaper for daytime. So letting the skin breathe seems like a healthy thing to me, however I had a senior golden retriever who was in a malewrap 24/7 for 3 years and his skin was fine. I just think letting them go with no diaper is nice if you can do it for part of the day. The swimsuit is a new idea. We've heard of people using baby onsies which is similar. I think some of them snap at the crotch.

This is my dog Kiki. He is 6 years old, 5 years with me. Both hind legs amputated. Hates his wheels When he is out longer, he is in drag bag.He is totally incontinent..During the day he is without diapers, as we had already fought two bacterial infections (UTI), staphylococcus and escherichia..it is easier to clean after him than to fight UTI. As he sleeps with me I put him diapers before the bed. But he is some close relative of Houdini, and whatever I have tried, he takes the diapers off during the night..so we live like in a five star hotel, changing the bedding every day Kiki has two sisters, one 20 years old, two dog brothers and one cat brother with CH.We live in Belgrade, Serbia.

Would he sleep on a washable pee pad? They're quite nice for catching pee, and they're easier to wash than all the bedding. I usually have to pull the bedding twice a week these days, but I wouldn't want to go back to the daily thing!!